1/48 Tamiya F-16C 'Barak' 535

by David Bey

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Tamiya had just released their F-16CJ Block 50, so I decided to use it to first build a Barak block 40 (wasn't too keen about building another 'WW' block 50..). In order to do so, some areas had to be altered. I used the Barak conversion set from DrPepperResins http://www.drpepperresins.com/ to build this. In the set you get the extended parabrake tail, intake light ECM housings, enlarged nose RHAW housings, under-intake bump, 4 ECM bumps for the "doughnut panel", 4x 16S210 missile launchers, and a pair of block 40 style main landing gear wheels. I opted not to use the 4 ECM bumps for the doughnut panel as they were removed in the later stages, instead I used alumnium tape, cut in a panel-scribing template, to represent the blanking panels used.

Of course we all know about the wonders of Tamiya's engineering, so I won't go much into that. I used 2 Python-4 AAMs from Paragon Designs, those were very nice, thank you very much Neil!. Decals were from Isradecals. I chose 535 as it was represented in the Isradecals book about Baraks, which was also my main reference for this build. To top it off (I know it's probably not a real loadout), I used a LITENING III pod from DrPepperResins as well. This comes with the decals for the silver latches, so I only had to paint the pod grey, and decal away.. For weapons I also used 2 GBU-12s from Hasegawa Weapons set D.

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As the Tamiya kit nozzle was sparse on the interior decal, I used a DrPepperResins GE-F110 nozzle that also came with black decals for the dark areas of the nozzle.

All in all, quite a lot of resin, but well worth it as it adds another dimension of colour to my display case.

David

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Photos and text © by David Bey